Field
The present disclosure relates to crop processing equipment and more particularly pertains to a new processor disk and method of making the disk in a more efficient manner that may provide a more durable disk.
Description of the Prior Art
Machinery has been developed for processing crop materials passing through harvesting machinery such as, for example, a forage harvester. The processing machinery is generally designed to “crack” or crush or break open the kernels of the crop to make the nutrition of the crop more available to livestock consuming the processed crop material. Conventionally, the processing was performed by cylindrical rolls or rollers that rotate with a small gap between the rolls such that the kernels in the crop materials passing between the rolls are pinched and crushed to break the outer skin of the kernel. The rolls may have linear teeth that extend the length of the roll between the opposite ends.
Other types of processors have been developed that use elements other than rolls, or at least rolls that are not cylindrical in shape. For example, processors that utilize groups of disks mounted on spaced, parallel axes with a degree of partial intermesh have been developed. In some implementations of this concept, the disks may have a beveled perimeter region located adjacent to the circumference so that the axial thickness of the disk decreases toward the circumference of the disk and increases toward the center of the disk. The tapered perimeter regions of disks turning on one axis are positioned in close proximity to the tapered perimeter regions of the disks turning on another axis. A serpentine or “zig-zag” gap is formed between the disks of the two rows with a greater surface area between the arrays of disks in a smaller space than can be achieved with cylindrical rolls. The greater surface area between the arrays of disks may provide a distinct advantage over cylindrical roll-based processors in that the crop materials may be passed through the processor faster, and therefore the forage harvester may move through the agricultural field faster than a harvester utilizing a roll-based processor.
The disks typically have teeth formed on at least the surface of the tapered perimeter regions, and the teeth may have an arcuate and semi helical shape between the outer circumference and the inner termination of the tooth, which is usually at the border of the tapered region. The teeth on the disks of one array of disks are thus closely positioned, although spaced from the teeth on the disks on the other array of disks.
The teeth on the disks have been formed by removing material from the disks through machining the surface of the disks, particularly the surface on the tapered perimeter region of the disks.